Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Recently I've been hearing the perennial. Moaning about how Democrats and the Republicans are the same. Mostly this is a reflection of the speakers belief that Obama is, at best, the lesser of two evils. I call BULLSHIT!

Enough with the whining already. Yes, Obama has disappointed. Big deal. What president doesn't disappoint? I'm not even going to go through the litany of reasons why this is so and in Obama's case maybe more so.

For those of you on the sidelines in this election I have only one question:

Do you really think there's no difference between Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia? What about Elena Kagen and John Roberts? Need I go on?

Whatever else they may be about, presidential elections are ALWAYS about the supreme court. This has never been more true than now. Citizens United anyone?

Obama has nominated two justices. Imagine that these two justices had been John McCain's nominees for a moment. Do you think anyone would be wondering about how the health care decision will come down? What about Roe V. Wade?

Do you really want to leave a potential supreme court nomination in the hands of Mitt Romney? Imagine a solid 5 justice conservative majority for a moment? I'll spare you the details but understand that the most likely retirement or, sadly, death on the bench is that of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the most liberal justice remaining.

So, swallow hard and get your ass to the polls this year. No whining and no excuses. This election does matter. It matters about many things but it always matters most about the supreme court.

We'll talk about other issues again soon as this election year is heating up but whatever else I write about in these pages is always secondary to the supreme court. That's one thing the president has real power over and it can affect us for decades to come.